Quantum Hellinger distances revisited (Q2194097)

In this note, the authors consider quantum Hellinger distances investigated recently [\textit{R. Bhatia} et al., Lett. Math. Phys. 109, No. 8, 1777--1804 (2019; Zbl 1420.15016)], by placing a specific emphasis on barycenters. They introduce a family of generalized quantum Hellinger divergences which belong to the family of maximal quantum f-divergences (and hence are jointly convex) and satisfy the data processing inequality. These divergences are of the form \(\phi(A,B):=Tr((1-c)A+cB-A \sigma B)\), where \(A,B\) are positive definite operators on a complex Hilbert space, \(\sigma\) is the Kubo-Ando mean and \(c\in (0,1)\) is the weight of the mean \(\sigma\). A characterization of the barycenter of finitely many positive definite operators is presented. The authors show that the characterization of the barycenter as the weighted multivariate \(1/2\)-power mean, as claimed in [loc. cit.] is, in general, false. They further show that the result is true however, in the case of commuting operators.